My first time away

Yesterday, I had to attend a meeting for Livinity in a city three hours away. I was taking a prospect along to hear the vice president of the company speak. I wasn't sure if I could handle the Birdie by myself so I decided to leave her at home.

Birdie doesn't like to take a bottle. She'll take it once in awhile if she absolutely has to, but she doesn't like it. My friend lent me a bottle that looks like a boob but she doesn't like that much better. I took my fully serviced Birdie to my dad's house around 2:30 yesterday afternoon. I left her with a fully stocked diaper bag, three frozen containers of expressed milk, two styles of bottles, and a pacifier that she hates. I set out on my adventure feeling fancy free. It was the first time I'd been out alone and I was liking it. I picked up one of my girlfriends from college and we headed out. We rocked out to bad music and caught up on all of the gossip that we'd missed over the past year. She's a poli-sci student and headed to D.C. for her internship in the fall.

We had a good trip down. It was a beautiful hot and windy Kansas day. I love our summer weather. The meeting was at the Airport Hilton. I didn't know where it was, but I knew where the airport was so I figure we could find it. We got to town around 6 p.m. and hit Wendy's. By then I was starting to miss my baby. I'd never been away from her more than long enough to see a movie. It had already been four hours. I called my Dad to see how my Birdie was. He told me she was doing good. She had eaten off the bottle a bit and slept for awhile, but she was starting to get grumpy. My Dad let me talk to her over the phone which calmed her down. Jake was getting off work at 6 p.m. but he had to go to his second job. He wouldn't be off until 9 and then he was going to pick up the baby.

We got to the meeting site about 20 minutes before everything started. Just as we walked into the hotel I noticed my arm was wet. I was leaking. Alot. I didn't bring any breast pads. I had never been away long enough to need them. Here I was, dressed up, ready to go, and lactating all over the place. We found the first bathroom we could and by the grace of God, they had a basket of complementary maxi pads on the counter. So, I stuffed my bra with a couple of regular maxis with wings. My friend just laughed.

The meeting lasted about an hour and a half and throughout the meeting I could feel myself filling up more and more. One maxi started sagging from the weight. I'm glad I'm already buxom because it wasn't as noticeable as if I had been smaller. After the meeting I introduced my friend to the VP. We visited for a minute, I told her that it was my first time away from the baby. Then I had to tell her about the maxi pad caper. We had a good laugh but had to cut it short. I needed to get home. I was exploding. I kept imagining my dear Birdie latching on. I thought about using my empty water bottle as a pump. My pilfered maxi pads were soaked. I called home and Jake was just getting off work. He was headed to get the baby. I called my Dad. The Birdie was upset. Really upset. She refused to eat. She wouldn't sleep. I tried to talk to her and calm her down, but it didn't work so I drove a little faster.

Jake called when he picked up the baby. He said she was happy to be home, but that didn't last long. She still wouldn't eat or sleep. He said he tried giving her a bath. They went for a ride in the car. He tried everything. She wouldn't have any of it. So I drove a little faster.

I finally got back to town around 11 p.m. I was EXPLODING. I ran into the house, tore off my shirt and latched on the Birdie. We both heaved a big sigh of relief. Then I realized I was sitting there half naked in front of my friend. Its a good thing she loves me. I had Jake take her home.

I ended up overfeeding Birdie and she spit it all up but we were just glad to be back together. Even though she had eaten I had to pump just to get comfortable. I got 5 ounces out of one side. That has never happened. Today, my boobs are still messed up. Its one thing to have a stuffy nose, its another thing to have a stuffy boob. They're finally getting straightened out.

After this whole fiasco I've decided that Birdie goes where I go. Pumping and bottle feeding isn't an option for us. She won't have any of it. Poor Jake, he feels so bad that he couldn't comfort his daughter. Its not his fault. He's really good with her, but she just doesn't understand that just because its not mommy doing it doesn't mean its not right. Its got to be a big blow to his self esteem when he's been trying for hours to comfort her and all it took was for me to show up. It seems so stupid to say this, but, breastfeeding mothers were not meant to be separated from their breast fed infants. DUH!